Commentary
We liked Don Vaughn’s approach to this article. He involves several veterinarians, is realistic about non-veterinary obesity information influences, time management restrictions during clinic visits and the relative lack of comfort many veterinarians have when discussing obesity. The lack of nutrition education in veterinary curricula is noted and concerning.
Beyond the informational content, we found two actionable opportunities for veterinary teams:
- Ernie Ward’s assertion to conduct and record a body condition score during every exam.
- Lindsey Bullen’s approach to putting clients at ease using triangulation to listen, acknowledge and then solve together.
Source: Veterinary Practice News, July 2025. Link.
Overfeeding is often the result of a lack of understanding of the calories contained in pet food (and treats) and how much pet owners should feed their pets daily.”-Laura Gaylord, DVM
INSIGHTS: Our AHD team frequently reviews nutrition content. Many tools exist to help pet owners determine how much to feed their pets. Unfortunately, results are not calculated consistently across these different tools. We find the calculator from the Pet Nutrition Alliance easy to use as long as the user can read a label and do a bit of math to convert weight to volume <Link>.
Related: A cup is a terrible way to measure how much we feed a dog, AHD Archives, February 21, 2023. Link.
Image: Link.